August 12, 2009

PowerPoint

PowerPoint’s are one of the most commonly used technology teaching and presenting tool used in schools, universities and professional businesses. From my experiences, this tool is used to convey ideas, statistics, generalizations, guidance, commands and other materials that express a message. This can be done through text, visual pictures/graphics, videos, hyperlinks and the animation that introduce the different elements on each screen and the following slides, for example, fade, wipe, fly in, box, diamond…etc. These effects are what create interest and engagement in the content displayed, without these effects the audience is left trying to motivate themselves to listen and learn. With an adult audience this is not one of the major concerns as we should be able to stay focused for longer periods of time, although some may beg to differ. But with children, I believe, it is an important feature that helps them stay more alert.

Over time I have watched and been intrigued with how many young learners in the early childhood years that have a fetish for PowerPoint’s. They will download pictures and graphics off the internet of animals or other fixations, place it on a slide, add a few words to it and then view it. As a Learning Manager it is my responsibility to bring something that they use on regular bases to the classroom with innovation. The learners love seeing something that they normally use in a different light. I have used PowerPoint almost my whole life and the only disadvantage that I have come across is that is can be very time consuming when you use all the nitty gritty functions.

This PowerPoint tool can be very affective when engaging and pointing out specific content and text to learners’, as a Learning Manager I need to take on the concept of the connectivism theory that “learners are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. Instead, learners are actively attempting to create meaning” (Siemens, 2004, p.1). I am not doing my learners a favour if I continually use this teaching tool to display ‘knowledge’ instead I need to use it to the best of my ability to prompt higher order thinking and meaning making. Technology is a great resource at hand, but if I am using it at a ‘dumbed’ down level, then I am not using it wisely.

2 comments:

Hi Liz, in my opinion Powerpoint is used excessively in teaching probably because it is relatively simple to use. Personally I find Powerpoint presentations tedious (to both watch and create) and would prefer to use other engaging forms of presentation. It's great that you are mindful of their limitations and seem unlikely to fall into the trap of relying on Powerpoint for convenience. In order to effectively engage our learners we must challenge and extend our creativity rather than merely accepting and regurgitating what's already out there. Kind regards, kirsti. ps, you can view my blog @ kirstimckenzie.edublogs.org

Thank you so much for commenting. It is true, learners hunger and thirst for innovation and if we can bring that to them in a PowerPoint, then we are using this technology to the best of our ability. I am looking forever learning new techniques in my lifelong learning journey that will help me be a better Learning Manager. Thank you for you input.Kind RegardsLizzy

Hi, I am a third year student at CQUniversity and am studying a Bachelor of Learning Management in the Early Childhood sector. I am up skilling myself as I undertake this eLearning journey into the endless supply of new technologies on the web. I will continually blog my way through the new experiences that I undertake and identify areas of which they can be of use in my profession.